Device for moving a tongue rail of a gate

ABSTRACT

A device for moving a tongue rail of a switch is provided, the device having a retaining element attached to a stock rail and at least one roller fastened thereon, the axis of rotation of which roller is substantially parallel to the rail course, and which is arranged in such a way that the tongue rail can roll up from a lower contact position on the stock rail onto the roller to a remote position, and having a spring element arranged in the interior of the roller and fastened by at least one screw connection fixed adjustably to a slide rail on the retaining element.

The invention relates to a device for moving a tongue rail of a switch, having a retaining element attached to a stock rail and at least one roller attached thereto, the axis of rotation of which is substantially parallel to the rail course, and which is arranged in such a way that the tongue rail can roll up onto the roller from a lower resting position on the stock rail, and having a spring element.

Devices for moving tongue rails in switch systems are regularly exposed to high forces when trains pass over the switch. At the same time, the movement of the tongue rail must be made as smooth as possible when the switches are changed in order to prevent unnecessary wear and to minimize the consumption of lubricants. For this reason, systems are already known which provide for the rolling of a tongue rail onto a roller system. Such devices are typically designed in such a way that the tongue rail adjacent to the stock rail rests on a slide chair, which also absorbs the weight forces of a train running over it. A roller of the roller system rests against the side of the rail foot of the tongue rail opposite the stock rail, the upper vertex of which is slightly above the plane of the slide chair. This ensures that the stock rail lifts off from the slide chair at the start of any movement and rolls smoothly with low friction on the roller. Such a device is described in EP 0 654 561 B of the applicant. It can also be seen that the roller is typically spring-loaded to allow easier gliding and to compensate for tolerances. In the known solution, the spring is designed as a leaf spring extending between two supports attached to adjacent sleepers. Roller arrangements of this type are robust and functionally more than satisfactory. The production and the installation, however, are relatively complex.

Such arrangements, in which a retaining element is fastened directly to the stock rail, allow simplified installation. The roller is then typically mounted on a spring-loaded suspension, which achieves a similar behavior to the devices of the type described above. However, the spring-loaded suspension also causes a far from inconsiderable manufacturing and maintenance effort in this case.

From the US 2002/0079634 A1 an alternative device is known, which has tiltable rollers, and which also allows a rolling up of the tongue rail. After rolling up, the tongue rail is guided on further rollers. However, systems of this type also have the problem of high maintenance costs, as they are quite complicated in structure. In addition, they are very susceptible to errors due to the weather, as dirt and icing can occur despite tight maintenance and monitoring.

DE 44 05 115 A1 describes devices which have rollers on a support. A spring element arranged under the rollers tilts a part of the roller suspension in the adjacent position of the tongue rail so that it rests on a slide chair with reduced contact pressure. Some of the rollers have an elastic shell to reduce friction when the tongue rail slides along the slide chair. This construction is very complex and error-prone. As the spring element ages, the spring constant may change, resulting in increased friction and malfunctions. In addition, due to its complex design, the well-known device is very susceptible to malfunctions caused by impurities.

KR 20120076926 A describes a further embodiment that has several rollers mounted on an intermediate bearing, with the intermediate bearing being arranged on the retaining element so that it can be moved. Here, too, rolling off is not provided, which leads to a load on the fragile components. In addition, due to the arrangement at the intermediate bearing, only all rollers can be moved at the same time, which makes optimal positioning more difficult.

It is the object of the present invention to avoid these disadvantages and to provide a solution which, in its function, is as similar as possible to the devices described above, but which has a simplified design, can be manufactured inexpensively and requires little maintenance.

According to the invention, these objects are solved in that the spring element is arranged in the interior of the roller and that the roller is fastened by at least one screw connection and is adjustably fixed in a slide rail on the retaining element. In this way it is possible to support the roller itself essentially without springs and thus achieve a considerable simplification of the structure.

Spring-loaded rollers, i.e. rollers which have a spring element between a hub and the outer circumference, are known per se, but are not known to use a roller which is inherently spring-loaded but mounted in a non-spring-loaded manner instead of a spring-loaded suspension of a roller which is intended for the sliding on of a tongue rail.

An important aspect of this invention is the simple attachment of the device to the stock rail so that it can be mounted independently of the configuration of adjacent sleepers, provided that only the space required to accommodate the device is available.

Preferably it is provided that the outermost shell of the roller is made of metal. In this way it is possible to absorb the relatively high mechanical load at the beginning of the sliding on without damage and without impairing the spring effect.

It is particularly advantageous if the roller is designed as an elastomer-sprung roller. The choice of suitable materials makes it possible to achieve a very long service life.

A particularly simple assembly and adjustment of the device can be achieved in such a way that the roller is fastened by at least one screw connection and the slide rail is fixed to the retaining element. By moving the roller along the slide rail, the correct position of the roller can be easily adjusted crosswise to the longitudinal direction of the stock rail. It is particularly advantageous in this context if the roller is attached to the retaining element by at least one eccentric fastening. In this way, the height of the roller can also be optimized in the same adjustment procedure.

The above embodiment variant can be further improved in particular in such a way that the eccentric fastening has at least one polygonal plate fixed in a slide rail on the retaining element and at least one screw, wherein the screw runs through an acentric hole through the plate. The many-sided plate, for example, is designed as an octagon so that eight different setting positions are available.

In certain installation situations it is possible that the required range of displacement of the tongue rail is larger than the width of the foot of the tongue rail. In order to ensure low-friction displacement over the entire adjustment range, it is preferably provided that at least one second roller is attached to the retaining element, wherein the axes of rotation of the rollers are arranged substantially parallel to each other.

A preferred embodiment variant of the invention provides that the bearing of the roller on the retaining element is formed rigidly. The suspension of the roller is achieved exclusively via the spring element built into the roller, which ensures a particularly simple construction.

It is particularly advantageous if the spring element is designed as a hollow cylinder whose inner diameter is in a range between 30% and 60%, preferably between 45% and 55% of the outer diameter. In this way, the required mechanical stability can be guaranteed and at the same time sufficient suspension can be achieved.

In the following, the present invention will be explained in more detail by reference to embodiment variants depicted in the figures, wherein:

FIG. 1a shows a side view of an embodiment with a tongue rail in the contact position;

FIG. 1b shows a side view of an embodiment with a tongue rail in a remote position;

FIGS. 2a to 2d show different views of an embodiment of an eccentric fastening;

FIG. 3 shows an exploded view of an embodiment with two rollers;

FIG. 4 shows an exploded view of a spring roller.

FIG. 1a discloses a side view of an embodiment, having a tongue rail 2, which is in a contact position. A retaining element 7 of the device is attached to a stock rail 3 with a fastening device 4. The device is not arranged directly at the end of the tongue rail 2 so that tongue rail 2 and stock rail 3 do not touch even in the contact position in the area of the device. A roller 1 is connected to an eccentric fastening via its shaft 20. The size of the roller 1 is chosen so that it is easy to roll up the tongue rail 2 and positioned so that the highest point of its shell is slightly higher than the bearing surface of the tongue rail 2. The eccentric fastening is designed as a polygonal plate 6 in the form of a regular octagon with an acentric hole 2 c for the passage of shaft 20. This embodiment makes it particularly easy to adjust the height of roller 1 when assembling the device or even at a later date. Depending on which side of the octagon is facing downwards, the uppermost point of the shell of roller 1 is in a less or more elevated position relative to the bearing surface of the tongue rail 2. Thus the lifting height of the tongue rail 2 can be optimally adjusted depending on the installation situation of the device and external parameters. The eccentric fastening is guided in a slide rail 7 a of the retaining element 7. The eccentric fastening and thus also the roller 1 is fixed to the retaining element 7 via a nut 8. The horizontal position of roller 1 can be easily adjusted and, if necessary, readjusted on site by means of the guide in slide rail 7 a. The optimum setting is when the roller 1 and the tongue rail 2 touch each other in the contact position, but the tongue rail 2 still does not rest fully on the roller 1, but rests on a slide chair 21. This guarantees that forces applied to the tongue rail 2 by corresponding vehicles when the tongue rail 2 is passed over are not transferred to the roller 1, or only to a small extent. At the same time, however, it is ensured that rolling onto roller 1 is easily possible and that there is no unnecessary friction. Thus, by setting only one axis, namely shaft 20, the position of roller 1 can be precisely set. On the one hand, this is very cost-efficient and offers low susceptibility to errors and, on the other hand, the setting is very easy and quick to perform and can be changed at any time as required.

FIG. 1b shows the same embodiment, but the tongue rail is in a remote position. Rolling onto roller 1 has already taken place and the tongue rail is already in a position a few millimeters away from the slide chair 21.

FIGS. 2a to 2d show an embodiment of an eccentric fastening 6 in front, side and rear view, as well as an oblique view. It has an octagonal adjustment segment 6 a and a centrically arranged guide segment 6 b with an acentric bore 2 c, the latter being intended to receive the shaft 20 of the roller 1. The position of hole 2 c is selected so that a different distance to each side edge of adjustment segment 6 a results from its center point. By turning the eccentric fastening 6 in a corresponding guide in the retaining element 7, the exact position of hole 2 c and thus the position of roller 1, in particular the height of roller 1, can be set.

FIG. 3 shows an exploded view of an embodiment variant with two rollers 1. The retaining element 7 is designed similarly to the embodiment described in FIG. 1a and FIG. 1 b. However, two rollers 1 are mounted on two shafts 20 with two eccentric fastenings on each side in the slide rail 7 a. Between the eccentric fastenings and the rollers 1, disks 19 are arranged; between the eccentric fastenings 6 and the nuts 8, disks 9 are further inserted and a spacer element 10 is inserted on each side. The spacer element 10 is designed in such a way that, on the one hand, the rollers 1 do not come too close to each other when the device is adjusted, and, on the other hand, the distance between the rollers can still be adjusted. This is achieved by forming a hole for a shaft 20 in an oblong manner. This means that the maximum rolling path of the tongue rail 2 on the rollers 1 can be optimally adjusted as required.

FIG. 4 shows an exploded view of a spring roller. It has an outermost shell 11, in which there is a spring element 13 made of elastic material, preferably elastomer, flanked by two safety rings 12, which hold the spring element 13 in the outermost shell 11. The outermost shell 11 can be made of robust metal to prevent wear from rolling up the tongue rail. However, it can also be made of elastic material to provide additional damping. Inside the spring element 13 there is a fixing ring 14 as well as two limiting elements 15. The limiting elements 15 are arranged on a hollow shaft 17, which rests on shaft 20. Distal to the limiting elements 15 are further safety rings 16, as well as a disk 18 each, and a toothed disk 19. Outside the disks there is the eccentric fastening 6, which is separated by another disk 9 and adjoins the nut 8. 

1. A device for moving a tongue rail of a switch, the device comprising a retaining element configured and arranged to be coupled to a stock rail; and at least one roller attached thereto, the axis of rotation of which is substantially parallel to the course of the rail, and which is arranged in such a way that the tongue rail can roll up from a lower contact position on the stock rail onto the at least one roller to a remote position; and a spring element arranged in an interior of the at least one roller, and wherein the at least one roller includes at least one screw connection configured and arranged to adjustably fix the at least one roller to a slide rail on the retaining element.
 2. The device according to claim 1, characterized in that an outermost shell of the at least one roller is metal.
 3. The device according to claim 1, characterized in that the at least one roller is an elastomer-sprung roller.
 4. The device according to claim 1, characterized in that the at least one roller is attached to the retaining element by at least one eccentric fastening.
 5. The device according to claim 4, characterized in that the eccentric fastening includes at least one polygonal plate fixed in the slide rail on the retaining element, and at least one shaft configured and arranged to extend through the plate via an acentric bore.
 6. The device according to claim 1, characterized in that a second roller of the at least one roller is fastened to the retaining element, wherein an axes of rotation of the first and second rollers are arranged substantially parallel to one another.
 7. The device according to claim 1, characterized in that a bearing of the at least one roller is integral to the retaining element.
 8. The device according to claim 1, characterized in that the spring element is a hollow cylinder with an inner diameter in a range between 30% and 60% of the outer diameter.
 9. The device of claim 2, characterized in that the roller is designed as an elastomer-sprung roller.
 10. The device of claim 3, characterized in that the roller is attached to the retaining element by at least one eccentric fastening
 11. The device of claim 5, characterized in that a second roller of the at least one roller is fastened to the retaining element, and wherein an axes of rotation of the first and second rollers are arranged substantially parallel to one another.
 12. The device of claim 6, characterized in that a bearing of the at least one roller is integral to the retaining element.
 13. The device of claim 7, characterized in that the spring element is a hollow cylinder with an inner diameter is in a range between 30% and 60% of the outer diameter.
 14. The device of claim 13, wherein the inner diameter of the spring element is in a range between 45% and 55% of the outer diameter.
 15. The device of claim 8, wherein the inner diameter of the spring element is in a range between 45% and 55% of the outer diameter. 